Chapter 1: (5:21) The Charleston Rhythm
This lesson continues on with the rhythmic side of jazz guitar playing. You will learn some more challenging chord voicings as well as some basic accompanying rhythms also known as “comping.”

The Charleston is a sparse, syncopated rhythm. Due to its sparse rhythmic nature, it is best used as a comping rhythm when a more active rhythm, such as a walking bassline, is already present.

The two most basic variations of the Charleston are presented in this lesson. However, the comping musician most typically improvises the Charleston at will. Its main purpose is to fill space on an as needed basis.

Let’s imagine that you are playing in a band with a bass player, and the other guitarist is taking a solo. If the soloist is playing a very active line, the comping should be sparser. Otherwise, the overall sound may become too cluttered. On the other hand, if the soloist is playing sparse phrases or is letting a note sustain for a long duration, the comping can be become more active to fill space. Listen to your favorite jazz guitarists or pianists to see how they apply the Charleston to their comping rhythms.

Note: Click the “Supplemental Content” tab for two primary variations of the Charleston rhythm.

Before you begin to improvise your own comping rhythms, master playing the Charleston within the context of a ii V I progression first. As always, practice it in all twelve keys. If your time is limited, stick to the most popular jazz keys: F,Bb, Eb, and C. Be sure to use all of the chord voicings learned up to this point.

Chapter 2: (5:04) Rootless Set I Voicings
If you are playing with a bass player, it isn’t necessary to play the root/bass note of a given chord while comping. It isn’t wrong to do so. The root note will simply be doubled an octave higher. Since the root is already covered by the bass, the guitarist is free to play more colorful voicings. Since you are not using a finger to play the low root, that finger is free to play higher extensions in the chord. Extensions are the notes that “extend” beyond the 7th scale degree of a chord. Typical extensions are the 9,11,and 13.

Rootless Set I voicings are very effective, because they only contain the two most important chord tones. Depending on the chord, the most important chord tones are both the 3rd and 7th or the 3rd and 6th.

Once you have memorized all of these rootless voicings, begin practicing them in the context of a ii V I using the Charleston.

Keep in mind that rootless voicings should only be used when a bassline is present! They should be applied to the Charleston rhythm, not the Freddie Green rhythm.

Chapter 3: (8:45) Set II Chord Voicings
These chords expand upon the Set I voicings learned in Jazz Lesson 1. Adding a note to the 2nd (B) string creates these new voicings. Before you begin practicing these chords, make sure you are comfortable with all of your Set I and rootless Set I voicings.

The same scale degree will not always be added to each new chord. The 5 or 9 is typically added to major and minor chords. The 9 or 13 is added to dominant chords. Examine each chord voicing in detail to determine which chord tones the voicing contains. The way in which these chord tones interact with one another gives the voicing its overall sound or tonal “color.”

Important: When a dominant chord (C7) is written on a lead sheet, it is seldom played as a simple dominant 7 chord. When a dominant 7 chord is indicated, it should be played as a dominant 9 or dominant 13. For example C7, should be played as C9,C13, C7(#11), etc. Some of these voicings will be discussed in later lessons.

Note: Click the “Supplemental Content” tab for diagrams of the most basic Set II voicings.

Memorize these new chord voicings and start incorporating them into your daily practice of ii V I progressions. These are just the most basic Set II voicings. There are more to come in later lessons! Start by practicing these chords with the Freddie Green Rhythm. Then practice Rootless Set II chords using the Charleston.

I would recommend that you play the voicings in the way that I finger them in the video. For a few of the chords taught in this series though, there are some alternate fingerings that might also be practical depending on the context of the chords in the progression. In the long run, nobody cares about the way you finger a chord as long as you play it well and it sounds good.

Well, a dominant seventh chord contains a diminished chord. For instance, G7 (G, B, D, F) contains a B diminished chord (B, D, F). So, you over a G7 chord, you can generate licks based on B diminished arpeggios. You can also play B diminished chord shapes when you're playing rhythm guitar.

Matt
I thought the lesson where you demonstrated a walking bass with the rythm played on the high tone strings was great. Thanks because the more guitar we here the better we learn. I would be delighted if we could get the tab for that technique in one of the supplimentals. It would certainly inspire us to practice and learn and play more.
Thank You
Leonard

Hey! I didn't transcribe the example you were talking about, but I did put a sample bass line with chords into the supplemental content for this lesson. It's a blues in F. If you want to learn more about the 'how' and 'why' regarding walking bass lines, I recommend you check out Jane Miller's jazz lessons and Brendan Burns' rhythm guitar lessons on bass lines.

Hi! Thanks for the comment! I'll try to find the walking bass / chord example that you're talking about. Is there a specific lesson or scene that you can point me too? I filmed these lessons about six years ago, so I'm having a hard time remembering where certain examples are. At any rate, I'll definitely transcribe the example you're talking about once I can track it down.

Haha! Yeah...We filmed these old lessons in the summer in a building with loud air conditioning. We had to turn the air conditioning off so the mics didn't pick it up. As you can imagine, filming for 6 or so straight hours in that kind of heat gets pretty tough. ;) Oh well, it's a labor of love.

hi there, quick question, why the C13 on the 6th string has a Bb in the 4th string?? it don't get it, the E in the third string is the 5th or the 10th and the A in the second string would be the 13, but i have no clue about the Bb...or am i totally lost in this one?

Glad you liked the lesson! In the voicing you are talking about, the C note on the 6th string is the root. The Bb is the b7th. E is the third and A is the 13. "13" (C13) and "9" chords (C9) are two types of dominant chords just like "7" chords (C7). They all function the same way, but contain different extensions or different colors. Here are the formulas for these chords: C13 = 1, 3, 5, b7, 9 (the nine may be included or it may not be), 13. So, C13 contains C, E, G, Bb, (D), A. C9 = 1, 3, 5, b7, 9. C9 contains C, E, G, Bb, D. C7= 1, 3, 5, b7. C7 contains C, E, G, Bb. As you can see, all of these dominant chords contain the b7 - Bb...I should also mention that when coming up with voicings for these chords, especially when playing jazz, the root note or the fifth may be omitted from the voicing. That's something I'm sure you'll notice in these lessons.

Good lesson...plenty of stuff to work on! Just curious if you cover the walking bassline with II-V-I in any future lessons? That was awesome and exactly the style of jazz I'd like to get comfortable with. (Read, single guitar style). Thanks!

Thanks! I haven't discussed bass lines in this series yet. I might in the future though. Jane Miller does a great job of explaining how to play walking bass lines in her jazz set though. A few of her most recent lessons cover that topic in detail.

One other question Matt. Can you tell me what type of gear set up in these lessons? Obviously I can see the strat...but what types of pickups and amp? Amp settings (or a rough guess) would be great as well. I'm trying to dial in a nice jazz tone on my G&L ASAT and I"m getting close...but thought you may have some tips. (Currently running flatwounds through a Mesa Mini Recitifier. Certainly not a true jazz set up but it sounds pretty good.

Well, when we filmed these lessons about 5 or 6 years ago, the gear / recording setup we had was far from ideal. We only had a single condenser mic in the middle of the room that picked up everything. Typically, when I play jazz, I use either my Les Paul or a G+L Legacy with Lace Sensors in it (red-bridge, silver-middle, and blue for the neck pickup). I play through a Fender Deluxe for jazzier tones. For rock stuff, I use a dual rectifier, which surprisingly gets some great jazzy tones. I think the key is to play with the three eq controls and the presence knob in conjunction with the tone control on your ASAT to get the ideal tone. I would keep the presence control relatively low and go with a pretty flat eq...mids at about 11 o'clock. bass at about 1 o'clock. highs at about 12 o'clock. Then, maybe roll off the tone control slightly to further decrease the highs that the pickups are putting out. For most jazz stuff, you'll want to go with the neck pickup.

Mtt I am following your reading and rythmcourse along with this course. I can play the charleston rythm by ear watching you but am having a hard time counting it. I don't know why, in your reading lessons i can count out kind of the same beat.

well...In the supplemental content, you have notes on "1" and the "and of 2". In the following measure, you have notes on the "and of 1" and the "and of 2". I set the metronome so that it clicks on beats two and 4. Then, in my head, I keep a "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" feel going with a swing rhythm....Then, you just have to strum at the appropriate times.

Mtt I am following your reading and rythmcourse along with this course. I can play the charleston rythm by ear watching you but am having a hard time counting it. I don't know why, in your reading lessons i can count out kind of the same beat.

Matt did you give thoses song as ajust a example of the charleston rythm or can we play to them with the chords we have learned so far, I have been playing for a while and haven't a clue what to do. I don't read music. Imostly play by ear.

Well, the Charleston Rhythm is a comping style that can be applied to any tune that is played with a swing rhythm feel. As a guitarist, you're either going to "comp" with the Freddie Green rhythm, the Charleston, a walking bass line, or some sort of combination of the three when playing swing. If you're playing with a bass player or a piano player that is covering the bass, there's no need for you as a guitarist to provide bass. If you're playing with a bass player and a drummer, Freddie Green is too busy for many situations....So, that's when you want to comp more sparsely with the Charleston. Listen to a variety of different ensemble types playing some jazz standards (guitar duets, big band, small jazz combo, etc.)...you'll see what I mean.

As a bass player, I can hear what you are saying about the rootless voicings. This actually may be the easiest section for me since I do play bass. It's nice to know the root voicing and actually do like you showed in the beginning with the walking bass line and the rootless chords. This is something I'd be more interested in doing since I play mostly solo. So I've not only learned the rootless voicing but how I can combine my bass playing with them to really fill things out for me as a soloist. Thanks.

Most definitely! I'll be filming some new jazz lessons in the middle of June. I'll definitely do some lessons on some standards. These lessons will be taught in three parts - one part on the melody, one on comping, and one on playing solos. In the meantime, check out the rest of the lessons in this series. I believe I did one that has some instruction on how to comp with the Charleston over the 12 bar blues. I also cover rootless set 1, rootless set 2, and set 3 voicings. All of these voicings are used with the Charleston. As you learn these new voicings, apply them to some simple standards like "Take the A Train," "Autumn Leaves," "All of Me," etc. I recommend you get a copy of the Real Book and go to town. Good luck!!!

Thanks Matt. A lot of chords covered up to this point. I was wondering if it might be possible to slot in a lesson that helps us consolodate these chords, maybe by using them in a Jazz standard, rather than just ploughing on with more variations?

Yep! That's what is coming next for this series. We're going to take a look at a bunch of standards that follow the 12 bar blues form. Then we'll start getting into minor keys and some tunes in minor keys.

Your lessons are very good, I joined after seeing your 'free' lessons. But I cannot find supplement content that has the Charleston syncopated rhythm. I almost have it and want to confirm I have it right. Are there any practice tracks in later lessons?

Matt Brown takes a look at the available chord voicings for Blue Bossa.

Length: 10:39Difficulty: 0.0Members Only

About Matt BrownView Full Biography
Matt Brown began playing the guitar at the age of 11. "It was a rule in my family to learn and play an instrument for at least two years. I had been introduced to a lot of great music at the time by friends and their older siblings. I was really into bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and Smashing Pumpkins, so the decision to pick up the guitar came pretty easily."

Matt's musical training has always followed a very structured path. He began studying the guitar with Dayton, Ohio guitar great Danny Voris. I began learning scales, chords, and basic songs like any other guitarist. After breaking his left wrist after playing for only a year, Matt began to study music theory in great detail. I wanted to keep going with my lessons, but I obviously couldn't play at all. Danny basically gave me the equivalent of a freshman year music theory course in the span of two months. These months proved to have a huge impact on Brown's approach to the instrument.

Brown continued his music education at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He completed a degree in Classical Guitar Performance in 2002. While at Capital, he also studied jazz guitar and recording techniques in great detail. "I've never had any desire to perform jazz music. Its lack of relevance to modern culture has always turned me off. However, nothing will improve your chops more than studying this music."

Matt Brown currently resides in Dayton, Ohio. He teaches lessons locally as well as at Capital University's Community Music School. Matt's recent projects include writing and recording with his new, as of yet nameless band as well as the formation of a cover band called The Dirty Cunnies.

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